HECTOR — With a 35-7 lead at halftime, Hector head coach Mark Taylor told his team to one thing. He wanted them to finish.

“Let some of these other kids, the second string, who practice hard every day get a chance to play on the field,” the second-year coach said.

Taylor put the second string on the field in the middle of the third quarter after the Wildcats (6-1, 5-0 2A-4 Conference) had made the spread insurmountable for the Mountainburg Dragons (3-3, 2-2) during Hector’s 42-7 victory at Wildcat Field on Friday.

“We jumped on them early and we set the tone for the game,” Taylor said. “I think that was the key. We handled our business early.”

The Wildcats did get an early start, but not without a rocky beginning. After receiving the opening kickoff, Hector went three-and-out. Fortunately for the Wildcats, that was the end of their offensive woes.

“I was very disappointed with that first drive,” Taylor said. “I was worried we were going to have a letdown. We had a mental mistake, a wide receiver that cost us a big play.”

But Hector bounced back. On its next drive, it moved the ball 69 yards in three plays and scored on a 30-yard keeper by freshman quarterback Tanner Gaines. Karson Lee added the PAT to make it 7-0 with 7:22 left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats scored again four plays into their next drive, this time on a 3-yard jog across the goal line by Gus Nichols. Gaines, who finished the night 4-of-9 for 94 yards and two touchdowns, hit Nichols for 35 yards on the previous play to set up the touchdown and after the successful PAT, Hector took a 14-0 lead with 3:24 left in the first.

Mountainburg took over on its 20-yard line, but fumbled two plays into the drive. Steven Ester fell on the ball and gave the Wildcats a short field on the Dragons’ 23-yard line.

It only took one play. Nichols, who has 1,018 yards on the season added 202 and three touchdowns to his totals against the Dragons, tore off the length of the field on the very next snap to put Hector up 21-0 after the PAT with 3:08 left in the first.

Mountainburg earned its initial first down of the evening on its next drive and followed it with three more en route to the end zone. The Dragons capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a 16-yard rush by Samuel Copeland across the goal line to make it 21-7 after the PAT as time expired in the first quarter.

Nichols continued to shred the Mountainburg defense and broke off 17-, 9- and 10-yard runs before taking a final 3-yard scoot across the goal line.

With a 28-7 lead and 8:37 left in the half, the Wildcats defense kept the Dragons from scoring again, despite two questionable penalties that gave the Mountainburg offense the ball on the Hector 25.

Facing fourth-and-10 the Dragons took a gamble on a keeper by Josh Skattebo. Skattebo, who weighs in at 305 pounds at the quarterback spot, met Lee at the line of scrimmage and bit the turf.

The turnover on downs gave the Wildcats possession on their 25. From there, Nichols, Gaines and Tyler Brashear took turns padding stats on a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Nichols opened the drive with a 35-yard gain and Brashear picked up 10 more two plays later before Gaines found Shawn Lusk for 27 yards and a touchdown to make the score 35-7 at the half.

Hector picked up where it left off on its first drive of the second quarter. After forcing Mountainburg to another three-and-out, the Wildcats took four plays to find the end zone. Brashear busted through the line for 29 yards, then another 11 on the next play before Nichols hit Lusk in the end zone for 16 yards and a touchdown to make the score 42-7 after the PAT with 7:46 left in the third.

Hector forced and recovered a fumble on the next Dragons drive, but was unable to capitalize. Then, on the second play of the following Mountainburg drive, Eric McGowen stepped in front of Skattebo’s pass and gave the Wildcats possession on the Dragons 33.

Hector moved the ball to the 11-yard line but was unable to come away with a touchdown. From there, the teams bounced back and forth across the field, but neither found their way to the end zone.

“Our offense really bounced back,” Taylor said. “Last week, I felt like we had a lot of errors, but we played a better game. Tanner had lots of time to throw and the holes for Tyler and Gus were huge. We wanted to be able to get those two into space and we did, and when we did they made huge things happen.”

The Wildcats will take on Union Christian next Friday to continue conference play.